


The Hunt (for caffe)

by AngeNoir



Series: Inktober 2018 [11]
Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, M/M, Space Opera, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 05:12:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16361489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/pseuds/AngeNoir
Summary: Kugare just wants his cup of caffe in the morning. Since L'nWoad wouldn't tell him who took the last of it, he'd hunt down the offender.





	The Hunt (for caffe)

Car-Lus A’Verrez, sniper and tactician extraordinaire, one of the most feared bounty hunters in over twelve spiral galaxies, glowered at the replicator, and then turned on his heel to cast an accusing and furious look at the other inhabitants of the galley.

“Don’t look at me,” L’nWoad “Croach” Pr’eeus said immediately, shaking his head. “I drink tae, not your caffe. I didn’t touch it.”

Car-Lus - nicknamed “Kugare” due to his habit of climbing high and dropping down on his targets like the kugare (a well-known predator throughout the galaxy) - put his fists on the table and leaned forward, ears pinned back against his skull, yellowed eyes narrowed at Croach.

“Even if I knew  _who_  had taken it, you think I’m gonna tell you? I’m not that suicidal. You know that.” Croach sipped at his container of tae and flinched a little when Kugare’s nostrils flared. “Go biz at someone else!”

Kugare didn’t see a reason to move on to someone else - if Croach knew, then Croach would tell him. Eventually. All Kugare needed was to wait it out, watch the shiny dark skin bead up with perspiration, those lizard-green eyes growing more and more panicked -

“Frag this, I’m out,” Croach snapped, pushing away from his chair and whirling on his heel to dart out of the room.

Kugare stared at the doorway in shock, and then scowled. He didn’t think Croach would  _run_. Now he had to track him down, or find out who had taken it by hunting down the other crew members.

On a tight, tiny scout ship like this one, though, that at least wouldn’t take up much time.

…Maybe he could draw this out. Make a game of it. He certainly was bored enough on this month-long shot to do anything to pass the time.

 

* * *

 

 

He made a game of it; he followed as much of the scents as he could, but it had already been two long, shut-in, ten-day weeks and all their scents were so thick on the ground that it made it hard to follow them. But he knew where Klai and YeeSha were at this time of day.

He was jiggling the lock open of Klai’s quarters when the door slid open and he was treated to an unwanted eyeful of his former Commander in all his glory.

“Kugare?” Klai said suspiciously. “What the garz are you doing at my door?”

Kugare popped up easily, then leaned forward.

No, no smells of caffe in the room.

Of course, they could have drunk it and retired to their quarters, which would mean he would have to sniff their breaths…

But no. That deep of a breath he had taken, he knew what they had been doing all this time in that room, and it wasn’t something as sedate as drinking caffe.

He turned around and walked away.

“What the frag, Kugare?!”

 

* * *

 

 

Down the hallway, to the cockpit. With Croach away from the controls, it would be either Jaeck or Ro-Qay there. Those were the only two left.

Or perhaps Croach had gone back to the controls. Then he’d have his informant, right on hand.

That sounded like it’d end his hunt quickly, and while on the one hand that was something that got his blood up… he hadn’t felt this alive in a long while.

The cockpit revealed Ro-Qay, half-asleep and leaned back in the pilot’s seat. When the hatch slid open, Ro-Qay jerked upright, double-set of eyes blinking sleepily. “Kugare?”

Kugare looked around the cockpit, nostrils flaring, and then huffed.

“Why’re you here so early?” Ro-Qay grunted, blinking again. “Weren’y you supposed to be… somewhere?”

Kugare frowned. Last night, he had gotten pretty heavily intoxicated, along with Jaeck and Croach, and he could vaguely remember reminiscing with Croach about his wife, raising their pup on-planet, and then the conversation had gone… where?

“Where’s Jaeck?”

Good question, Kugare thought to himself, even as he hummed in the back of his throat and exited the cockpit. Where  _was_  Jaeck? They normally woke at the same time, shared space in the galley together as they ate their first meal.

Why would Jaeck still be in his quarters? What could…

Oh.

 _Ohhhh_.

Oh frag.

 

* * *

 

 

Jaeck’s quarters were locked, but he had known Jaeck’s personal code since they had gotten their own quarters. Kugare wasn’t certain why he hadn’t simply headed to Jaeck’s quarters last night - but he was here now. Hopefully, he could salvage whatever it was they had planned. At this point, he wasn’t even really thinking about the caffe; he was nervous, because he couldn’t remember what he had promised, but that he knew he had been supposed to go see Jaeck about  _something_. And he’d spent almost one and a half units searching the ship for the scent of caffe.

Typing in the code, he squeezed into the tiny thin doorway and past the various cables and other extraneous machinery hanging or draped around the corner.

Here, in the center of Jaeck’s quarters, the scent of caffe was suddenly strong. He could also pick up scents of food, replicators weren’t perfect, but the one on their ship could actually replicate one of Kugare’s favorite dishes pretty accurately.

In the center of the room - Jaeck’s bed was suspended from the walls (though - space didn’t really have set and defined ups and downs, and the artificial gravity wasn’t the best on their ship), so his floor, which was normally cluttered, had some semblance of cleaning done and a blanket spread out, the caffe sitting in a small pitcher in the center of two large platters of sumptuous-looking food.

Jaeck sat there, cross-legged, flesh eye closed as his robotic eye blinked. Away, doing some coding or research. Waiting, for Kugare.

Kugare felt vaguely ashamed with how long Jaeck must have sat there, waiting - but he could have called or contacted Kugare at any given moment. So Kugare came in, the tip of his tail twitching nervously, and sat cross-legged. Gently, he placed a hand on Jaeck’s knee.

There was a soft whir, and as Kugare sat back, Jaeck blinked, his flesh eye fluttering open as his mechanical eye shuttered down to match his flesh eye’s eyelid. “Hey, kitty-kit,” Jaeck mumbled, then cleared his throat. “You have fun?”

Kugare looked at him up through his lashes, ears pinned back.

“Aww,” Jaeck mumbled, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Kugare’s, blond mohawk flopping against Kugare’s sensitive ears. He rubbed his forehead a bit against Kugare’s, and then pulled back. “Don’t you worry, Kugs. You think I didn’t know what happened? Croach came to me immediately and I realized you’d love to try and hunt this down.”

Embarrassed, Kugare rubbed the back of his neck.

“Plus, you were pretty out of it last night. I can’t wait until planet-fall and we can actually have a real getaway, not this made-up getaway, especially since seeing our glorious leader in all his bareness. Sorry you had to see that.”

Kugare huffed, and a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “I suspected you the least,” he murmured.

Jaeck sat back, a pleased blush turning his golden skin a faint brown. “What a sweet thing to say! And yeah, I just - I dunno, you mentioned about missing quiet, a nice outdoor meal, and I figured we could pretend. Croach saw me getting it ready, and he even told me to tell you, but you were having fun... I just waited. I knew eventually you’d wander this way.”

Kugare glanced at the food again, and let out a rumbling purr. He loved Jaeck, and he had had so much fun this morning. Stretching out, he reached out for a cup and poured some caffe - still steaming, even; how did Jaeck manage  _that_? - before drinking down the thick, hot, heavy liquid.

Jaeck chuckled, and began serving up food for Kugare. Kugare watched through eyes that were mere slits in pleasure.

How he’d gotten so lucky, he’d never know.


End file.
